Revision as of 17:08, 1 February 2013

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About

My name is Carolyn Estrada and I am a 1st year graduate student. I recently graduated from Texas A&M University with my B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. I enjoy playing racquetball, playing guitar, and watching college football. I am also halfway done obtaining my private pilot's license!

In my first semester of my senior design class in undergrad, I had the opportunity to travel abroad to Spain and work with students at the University of Castilla-La Mancha to design a wind driven power generator. The opportunity to improve an existing model for the wind turbine was my first proving ground in the product design universe. I also loved getting new perspectives about design, engineering and life in general from my Spanish teammates. Although we had our design on paper, the semester was too short for us to create a prototype for our turbine.

In my second semester of senior design, I was in a group that had to design a testing tank for oilfield sub-sea systems. The problem statement was provided by FMC Technologies and we had to consult with them throughout the semester for feedback. Additionally, part of my group attended Texas A&M at Qatar, all the way in Doha. This project reinforced the lessons I had gained from my time in Spain, but with the added challenge of effectively coordinating a project with and communicating with people that were on the other side of the world. Once again, however, time did not allow us to create a physical model of our test tank.

This past summer, I worked in the new product development division of Schlumberger, an oilfield services company in Houston, TX. I helped lay the groundwork for the design of a safety device for one of their perforating gun firing heads. It was here that I realized that I really want to work in product development.